TERRE HAUTE —
Initially, the concept might conjure images of Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman jumping out of an airplane or sitting atop the Pyramids.
Instead, think “Lent Meets ‘The Bucket List’ in Terre Haute.”
The basis of the 2008 New York Times bestseller, “One Month to Live: Thirty Days to a No-Regrets Life,” goes beyond two guys with life-threatening illnesses sky-diving and globetrotting. That book by Texas pastor Kerry Shook and his wife, Chris, guides readers through a one-month process “to live life more intentionally.” As nearly 2,200 other churches across the country have done since the book’s publication, multiple churches in Terre Haute are participating in a “One Month to Live” challenge by reading and discussing it this month, and finishing by Easter on March 31.
That stretch includes the final 30 days of Lent — the 40-day Christian season of personal reflection and introspection of faith. The timing fits the challenge, said the Rev. Honnalora Hubbard, executive director of Terre Haute Ministries, a coalition of churches that is sponsoring the project.
“I think it’s a perfect match for walking through the Lent season,” Hubbard said.
The Shooks will take a few steps with local participants through visits to two churches on Sunday, March 17 — Mount Pleasant United Methodist for the 8:45 and 10:45 a.m. services, and Maryland Community for a 6 p.m. citywide service.
They’ll discuss “One Month to Live,” which aims to trigger a re-evaluation of life’s priorities. Those who’ve not only read the book, but also applied its stop-waiting-for-someday principles to their lifestyles, realize how much time they’ve given to selfish pursuits instead of causes that matter. “One Month” clearly contains a faith-based message to live, as best we can, the examples set by Jesus Christ. Yet, for people unconnected to a religious belief, the book urges changes valuable to anyone, “from spending more time with their families to strengthening their marriages to giving back to their communities,” as its synopsis states.
In a 2009 interview with an Oklahoma newspaper, Kerry Shook recalled meeting a Houston man — a friend of a friend — faced with a terminal illness. Shook told the guy he would pray for him. The man responded, “You don’t need to pray for me. I need to pray for you and the congregation. I’m not distracted by life anymore. I know exactly what I need to do.”
From that exchange came the book.
“This is all about living,” Shook told the Clinton (Okla.) Daily News in 2009. “In 20 years of living, Chris and I have walked many people through the last months of their lives, and we’ve never had anyone say, ‘If only I’d had more possessions, if I’d only gone sky diving.’ It comes down to relationships. That’s the priority all the time.”
In a nutshell, “One Month” tells people to harness the focus imposed by a life-threatening ailment to make changes now.
The challenge can make a difference for anyone, Hubbard said.
“There are people who’ll say, ‘I don’t know about this Christ, but I do know I need a change in my life,’” she said.
Hubbard has copies of the book for $5 (retail price is $19.99) available through Terre Haute Ministries, reachable by phone at 812-234-7100, Ext. 215, or by email at director@terrehauteministries.org. Copies are also available through participating churches. She’s also hosting a “One Month to Live” challenge discussion group on Wednesdays at Java Haute on East Wabash Avenue.
At the very least, the book makes readers pause, and think about what their life means.
“If you read it and nothing happens,” Hubbard said, “what have you lost?”
Mark Bennett can be reached at 812-231-4377 or mark.bennett@tribstar.com.
Columns
Lent meets ‘The Bucket List’ in Terre Haute
- Columns
-
-
Shooters compete to fight cancer
A team of employees at Taghleef, formally A.E.T, would like to give a personal invite for you to join in on a lot of fun while helping save lives.
Cindy and Mark Wilguess are the inspiration behind the Taghleef Team. Cindy herself fought this battle with cancer and won. Last year she led her team to be the No. 1 fundraisers in the Relay for Life. -
GRAPE SENSE: Same old whites getting you down? Try something different
If the same old Chardonnay, Riesling or Pinot Grigio is getting you down, try something different.
-
TRIED ‘N’ TRUE: A Rhubarb Nut Bread for the season
Last fall we went to the Covered Bridge Festival. Gene loves to go. Anyway, I got to talking to this lady, Treva Smith, at Bridgeton.
-
GUEST COLUMN: Nursing more than medicine and bandages
Being a nurse … Like most nurses, I chose this profession because I had a strong desire to help others and no other career would allow me the opportunity to touch lives the way I have been able to through nursing.
-
RAMBLIN' RECK: It’s May … a time for horses and horsepower
It’s the first day of May, a great month for sports.
It begins with the Kentucky Derby on Saturday. My Old Kentucky Home is played before the start of the race on which hundreds of bets will be placed by folks who ordinarily don’t bet on thoroughbred horse racing.
A week later, practice begins for the Indianapolis 500.
-
REDNECK QUAKER: Collings wins safari raffle
And the winner is … Brad Collings of Bridgeton, Indiana!
On April 13, the raffle ticket was drawn to see who would be going on safari in South Africa with Van Vuuren African Safaris. Attendees of the Vigo County National Wild Turkey Federation banquet were on the edge of their seats hoping their name would be announced.
-
Amey Takes Aim: Can’t bottle the joy of Amey vacations
The first bad sign was the Gatorade bottle.
In the Bataan-Death-March drive to Orlando that got the Amey family spring break vacation off to a bad start, seeing it between lanes of I-24 — as we zipped along at a 100-miles-in-five-hours clip — filled with an ominous yellow liquid was a little bit scary. And although we didn't stop to check for sure, I'm fairly certain I knew about its contents.
And the person stuck in the same traffic jam with us, the one with the existential license plate YMIHR4, couldn’t have asked a more pertinent question.
But, after seeing a lot more of Oak Grove, Ky., than we’d planned, and after enduring more traffic slowdowns in Nashville, we were on our way. Even some rain in the dark in the Smokies didn’t slow us down much, so you would think our first-day troubles were over.
You would be wrong. -
YOUR GREEN VALLEY: Lessons on going green are all around if you look
It won’t be long before the corn will be knee high by the Fourth of July. As we prepare our gardens and fields for planting, lets remember a moment in our nation’s history that shaped the way we farm today: the Dust Bowl of the dirty ’30s.
-
TRIED ’N’ TRUE: Chicken Broccoli Casserole
We always like chicken and broccoli casserole. But it takes so many ingredients, and a lot of the time and I don’t always have all the ingredients.
-
CHRIS DAVIES: Common sense, education help slow spread of MRSA
A lingering, and possibly lethal, opponent still lurks in the community: methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureaus or MRSA.
-
YOUR GREEN VALLEY: A look inside at what it takes to become a foodie
What is a foodie?
Mathea Tanner, 33, was raised with a strong interest in food. Her father was from the South and her mother was Greek. Dinner time was a fusion of foods from their two cultures. -
Lent meets ‘The Bucket List’ in Terre Haute
Initially, the concept might conjure images of Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman jumping out of an airplane or sitting atop the Pyramids. Instead, think “Lent Meets ‘The Bucket List’ in Terre Haute.”
-
NCAA Division III basketball tournament returns to Rose-Hulman
The last time Rose-Hulman served as host for the NCAA Division III men’s basketball tournament, its game was played inside an old World War II airplane hangar.
You “old-timers” should know the building I’m talking about and the matchup wasn’t really that long ago — March 6, 1997, to be exact. -
RONN MOTT: South Carolina
It might be in the soil of South Carolina, or maybe it goes back to the American Revolution. South Carolina lost almost as many people to other South Carolina bullets in fighting the British.
-
Sycamores blossom on Hawaii trip
Quick quiz … what’s the state flower of Hawaii?
Don’t worry. I can’t just rattle state flowers off the top of my head. I had to look it up too, even though I’ve seen them all over the place in Honolulu.
I didn’t even know that Indiana’s state flower is the peony, which replaced the apparently unloved zinnia in the 1950s.
Hawaii’s flower, and they’re ubiquitous in Waikiki tourist shops and in actual flora on Oahu, is the yellow hibiscus.
The yellow hibiscus is big, bold and bright. I’ve never seen one blossom, but I imagine it has to be a beautiful sight.
What I have seen blossom — and it’s the only reason flowers would be brought up in my column — is the Indiana State basketball team at the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic. -
Etling, Meggs enjoying great year
It’s been a great year so far with more to come for a pair of longtime friends and St. Patrick’s School classmates.
Former Terre Haute resident Jack Meggs quarterbacked the Bellevue Wolverines football team to the Washington Class 3A state championship this fall, culminating with a 35-3 win over Sammamish Eastside Catholic — Bellevue’s fifth straight crown.
Danny Etling, meanwhile, has completed graduation requirements at Terre Haute South and is preparing for an upcoming high school all-star game and his first college classes in a couple of weeks.
-
Shooters compete to fight cancer
Raw: Tornadoes Spotted in Kansas
Probe Begins After Conn. Commuter Trains Crash
Obama Exhorts Good Deeds by Morehouse Graduates
NTSB Begins Investigation Into Conn. Train Crash
Winning Powerball Ticket Sold in Florida
Coffee Run Leads to Hatchet Hitchhiker Arrest
Lotto Fever Sweeps the Country
AP CEO: Records Seizure 'Unconstitutional'
Conn. Commuter Trains Collide; 60 Go to Hospital
CDC: Fecal Bacteria Common in Swimming Pools
Fmr. IRS Head Insists No Politics in Targeting
Today in History for May 19th
Raw: Heavy Tornado Damage in Shawnee, Okla
Raw: Texas Gov. Flies Over Tornado Damage
NM Mom Chases Down Child Abductor
$1 Million in Jewels Stolen at Cannes Film Fest
One Million Evacuated As Cyclone Hits Bangladesh
Raw: Driver Ejected From Truck, Over Bridge
Raw: Germany Protestors Picket Barbie House
Raw: Gun Scare Mars Cannes Film Festival
Twiggy, the Water Skiing Squirrel
Sailor Surprises His Mom At Her CU Denver Graduation Ceremony
Official: ‘Amazing’ No One Was Killed In CT Train Crash
Coffee Stop Leads To Arrest Of YouTube Sensation Wanted For Murder
Bearded Dragon Reunited With Owner
Marine Reunited with Warzone Companion
Raw: Crash Sends Car Into Fla. Pool
Beyonce Is Pregnant!
SF baseball player overpaid $500,000 RETURNS money -- and team says KEEP IT
Dad returns from Afghanistan, surprises family during Rays' first pitch
See Jennifer Lopez's New $10m Hamptons Mansion
Woman tricked into taking abortion pill
Emma Watson Goes Pantless
IRS scandal: Republicans seek to tie Obama to agency's woes
Play of the Day: Flipping to Safety
Pregnant Kim Kardashian Squeezes Her Swollen Feet Into Stilettos
Top Videos of the Week: Angry Taco Bell Guy, Glacier Moves on House, Dog Hates Baths
